I have had seven service calls on my washer since October for the dL error code and also F11 flashing. The door will not lock and start the cycle, or if it does, it stops mid-cycle and flashes F11. They have replaced the motherboard twice. They promised me a new motherboard last time (January) but sent factory-refurbished. I got a customer service rep on the phone today who said it's likely there are no new parts available because of the age of the washer. 4.5 years is not old! It has been working since mid-January but started acting up again this week. I've had a machine with three bad motherboards? Or is there a solution for this problem that my service guys don't know?

I hardly know where to begin, I mean, you have not been treated well, in fact it seems you have been serviced by Larry, Curley and Moe, and on top of that given a complete line of bull by whomever you talked with.

Let's see

1. Obviously your problem is not the motherboard, although by their inability to fix your real problem you may have a damaged motherboard.

2. Parts are abundantly available for this machine. I assume the cust service rep was from Sears? I mean, does he or she not know of Searsparts?

3. You should only get a reburbished part if that has been disclosed to you and the part sold to you at a discount but with a full new part warranty.

There are two candidates for your problem. It may be the door lock mechansm, the motor control unit or both, and since replacing the CCU fixed things termporarily, that may be out too. The logical one is the door lock mechanism. In fact, any experienced service tech would have known to replace it.

The F/11 code indicates a possible problem with your motor control board, or with the wiring between the motor control board and the CCU. It is possible that failure to replace the door lock mechanism and its continued failure has caused failure of the motor control unit and/or the CCU, but there is not way to determine that for sure, it's just speculation.

I guess you need to decide if you want to try and repair the machine yourself (I would not sink any more dollars into a service tech) or replace it. If you decide to repair it, start with the door lock assembly.

Good luck, you have our sympathy (yeah, I know, that don't clean the clothes)

Thank you. Although it doesn't get my clothes clean, it does help to hear from someone who doesn't think I'm a shrill shrew for complaining about this problem.

I put in a request for a callback from the customer service rep's supervisor, which will probably come while I'm away tomorrow. She actually told me I should have done my research before I bought this machine, that I should have known I was trading (top-loader) reliability for unproven new technology. She said her 17-year old machine was still doing just fine. Insults must be a new trend in the customer service field.

Thanks for your input. I will press again for an actual fix to the problem.

I finally got around to googling the actual error codes I was getting, instead of the model number, and guess what? Some big surprise, there are hundreds of posts out there about this same problem. Apparently Sears has known of the problems dating back to at least 2005.

The best news? Someone posted a blog entry, complete with photos, showing how to fix the blasted thing with a little solder. My husband says he can do it for under $30. Hallelujah!

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